Punjab News- Pension fund created to pay pension and retirement benefits to employees

Chandigarh, September 17, 2013: To ensure timely payment of pensionary and retiral benefits to the employees of the  Municipal corporations, municipal councils and improvement trusts across the state, the Punjab Government has created a pension fund by amending the Punjab Municipal Corporation Employees Pension and General Provident Fund Rules,1994  and Punjab Improvement Trust Employees Pension and General Provident Rules,1994.

Disclosing this here today a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has already cleared the proposal mooted by the local Government Minister Chuni Lal Bhagat for the creation of the new pension fund for the employees of Local Government. The Pension Fund, thus created was comprised 7% of the total annual income of the municipal corporations and municipal committees, besides 3%of Improvement Trusts. With this mechanism, all the employees were now getting their pension and retirement benefits regularly.

It may be recalled that several municipal committees were facing financial crunch due to limited resources over past many years and hence unable to pay pension and other retiral benefits to its employees. Consequently, many of them were compelled to take legal recourse by preferring writ petitions in the Punjab & Haryana High Court to get their pension dues released.

Meanwhile, the Secretary Local Government Ashok Gupta revealed that now, with the new pension fund in place all the employees were getting pension and other retirement benefits regularly without any delay. Earlier, there were as many as nearly 300 civil writ petitions in this regard. Resultantly, the litigation has virtually has come to an end, since 95% of civil writ petitions have been disposed of, added Gupta.